Concealed by Victoria Michaels Page B

Melissa uncovered Faith’s ears.
    “When is it your turn, Mommy?” Faith was bouncing with excitement.
    “Soon,” Sydney said with a nervous laugh. “But we can’t tell anyone when it’s my pie. It has to be a surprise, remember?” Reflexively her eyes searched out Wade who had moved away from the wall and was slowly inching closer to the front of the room.
    Melissa noticed, too, and snickered. “Someone’s jockeying for better bidding position.” The smug, sing-song tone of her voice made Sydney blush from head to toe.
    “Stop it,” she said, shooing Melissa away. Her hands went to her burning cheeks. Was he moving closer to bid on her pie or someone else’s? Sydney’s heart stopped when the auctioneer closed the bidding on number fifteen and introduced the next pie.
    “Now up for auction, number sixteen!”
    Sydney’s heart raced as the panic set in. Wide-eyed, she looked out into the cheering crowd. Wade had moved through the throng of people and was front and center. His hands were out of his pockets and now resting firmly on his hips. From all appearances, there was a distinct possibility he might bid on her pie. The mere thought of it tripled Sydney’s pulse rate and made her a little dizzy. Luke was standing behind Wade, glaring at the back of his head. When the auctioneer asked for an opening bid of twenty dollars, multiple hands flew into the air.
    Not one of them was Wade’s.
    She tried to keep her face calm even though her heart was about to burst from her chest. Hurt, disappointment, and confusion swirled in her mind but she prayed she kept her face stoic through it all. So much for Melissa’s brilliant idea. She scanned the crowd to investigate the bidders she recognized. Luke, of course, was one of them. He’d bid on every pie so far. A nice guy, a friend, but if she was being honest, not the man she wanted to go on a date with. That man was stubbornly standing a few feet away with his jaw clenched, watching other men bid on her pie.
    Luke was definitely the best of the initial bidders. The other two were Matt Schuller, whose young wife was glaring at him so ferociously, Sydney was certain his hand wasn’t going up in the air again and Johnny. There probably wasn’t anyone in the entire room more distasteful than him. He was self-centered, abrasive, and obnoxious. If she had to listen to his mortician talk for an evening, Melissa was going to be sorry.
    As predicted, Matt’s hand remained firmly in his pocket and the others fell by the wayside, but Luke and Johnny continued bidding back and forth. The price of her pie soon reached seventy-five dollars. Luke kept his attention toward the auctioneer the whole time. He was too engrossed in the spectacle of it all to try and match the pie to the woman who had made it. With each dollar that was added, Sydney’s hope that Wade would raise his hand faded. Melissa was so annoyed she began to inch her way through the crowd, looking like she might throw his hand into the air herself. Sydney caught Melissa’s eye and shook her head.
    If Wade wanted her, he was going to have to do it on his own.
    The bidding slowed with Luke still in the lead at ninety dollars. Johnny looked back at the table, apparently debating if the blackberry creation was worth a few dollars more. As he opened his mouth to bid, Sydney felt someone watching her. She searched for the only person who made her skin tingle that way. Wade. He looked her in the eye, his hand high above his shoulders. In a deep voice that made her heart squeeze, he called out, “One hundred dollars.”
    Any thought Johnny had about bidding ended the moment Wade upped the stakes. Where Johnny bowed out quietly, Luke’s body language said it all. He was not about to be outbid by Wade. When his hand went back into the air and he called out one hundred and twenty-five dollars, the auctioneer sensed the shift in the bidding. So could everyone else in the room. He quickly asked for one hundred and